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How Much Do You Know About Election Day 2018?

2018-11-06

United States gubernatorial elections will be held on November 6, 2018, in 36 states and three territories. In addition, special elections may take place (depending on state law) if other gubernatorial seats are vacated. These elections form part of the 2018 United States elections. The last regular gubernatorial elections for all but three of the states took place in 2014. Governors in New Hampshire and Vermont serve two-year terms, meaning that their most recent gubernatorial elections took place in 2016. Oregon, meanwhile, held a special election in 2016 to fill an unexpired term.

Many of the states holding gubernatorial elections have term limits which make some multi-term governors ineligible for re-election. Two Democratic governors are term-limited, while six incumbent Democratic governors are eligible for re-election. Among Republican governors, twelve are term-limited, while eleven can seek re-election. One independent governor is eligible for re-election.

Elections will be held in 26 of the 33 states with Republican Governors, 9 of the 16 states with Democratic Governors, 1 state (Alaska) with an independent governor, both territories with Republican governors, and one territory (U.S. Virgin Islands) with an independent governor. Incumbent state governors running to be reelected include 14 Republicans, 5 Democrats, and 1 independent. Territorial incumbents running include 1 Republican and one independent. The incumbent Democratic mayor of Washington DC is also running for reelection.

The 2018 Maryland gubernatorial election will take place on November 6, 2018, to elect the Governor of Maryland. The primary elections in Maryland were held on June 26, 2018.

The Republican candidate is Governor Larry Hogan (incumbent), who is running for reelection to a second term in office. The Democratic candidate is Ben Jealous, former president and CEO of the NAACP. The Green party candidate is Ian Schlakman, while the Libertarian candidate is Shawn Quinn.

At the presidential level, Maryland is a staunchly Democratic state due to the large amount of Democratic voters in the Washington metropolitan area and Baltimore City. Maryland has not seen a Republican presidential candidate win since 1988; Hillary Clinton won the state by 26 points over Donald Trump (60% to 34%) in 2016, Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney by 26 points in 2012 (62% to 36%), and Obama defeated John McCain by 25 points in 2008 (62%-37%).

Hogan was elected governor in 2014, defeating then-lieutenant governor Anthony G. Brown by a margin of 52-47; the result was considered one of the biggest election upsets that year.Prior to Hogan’s victory, Bob Ehrlich, elected in 2002, had been the only Republican elected as Governor of Maryland since Spiro Agnew. However, Ehrlich was defeated for reelection in 2006 by Martin O’Malley and defeated again in 2010, when he faced O’Malley in a rematch.

Currently, Governor Hogan has a 68% approval rating, the second highest approval of any governor in the country, only behind Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, who has a 71% approval rating. In a staunchly Democratic state, he has a high approval rating among all partisan groups (65% approval from Democrats, 64% of Independents, and 81% of Republicans).